


"I Challenge My Fate"

by Rose65



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Justice Cabal, Pre-Canon, child lucina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 15:24:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6056611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose65/pseuds/Rose65
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Posting for a friend who doesn't have an ao3 account (yet): In all the excitement of Fates coming out I thought I'd write something from Lucina's perspective about her life before she journeys back in time. This is a fun excerpt from her life at a young age. Part 1 of 3 maybe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"I Challenge My Fate"

         Lucina looked at the big, oak double doors that lead to the conference room. She remembered her parents always being in there, discussing strategy for hours on end with all of their most trusted friends. Lucina and her younger bother, Morgan, were never allowed in that room, and neither were all the other kids who came to visit when all of their parents got together for a meeting. No, all of the kids were to be playing together in the courtyard while their parents were meeting.

          “Lucina, you’re the oldest,” her father would tell her, “So I’m counting on you to keep all these kiddos out of trouble.” Then he’d wink before disappearing into the mystery room. He always told her this jokingly, but Lucina took her role very seriously. She was the eldest child of the exalt, it was her job to be the leader of her generation. It pained to to think about that now. She had always been so serious, so eager to grow up, she had just never expected to grow up so soon.

          She stood in front of the conference room, just staring at the doors, dreading what she knew would be waiting for her when she entered. She rmemembered the first time she had ever set foot inside the room.

          She was ten years old then. Her parents were in a conference with all of the adults, and she had been in the courtyard with all of the other kids. Aside from her brother, and her cousin, Owain, she had never met any of them before.

          Morgan wasn’t a shy boy, but he did have a strong sense of loyalty to his older sister, so the little seven-year-old was hesitant to leave her side and mingle with the others. Two of the girls, Severa and Cynthia, seemed to know each other already, but were glaring daggers at each other. Everyone else sat quietly by themselves. No one seemed comfortable with being introduced to about twelve new kids at once.

          “Psst, Lucy,” Morgan whispered, “Why isn’t anyone talking?”

          “Um, right,” she whispered back, “I should do something.” Her heart was caught in her throat and her palms were sweaty, but her dad was counting on her to take care of everyone, and at the very least, Morgan deserved to have a fun time.

          “So,” she said loudly, addressing the group, “I’m Lucina, and um, this is Morgan…Welcome to our home.” She ha thought maybe mimicking the phrase her mother always used when strangers came over would be a sure fire way to get people to relax, but she was still met with silence. One of the girls, Severa, rolled her eyes in annoyance, but that was the only reaction.

          “Do you guys want to play Justice Cabal?” asked Morgan brightly.

          “What’s that? Asked Cynthia.

          “The Justice Cabal is only the most bravest and strongest heroes, banded together on their quest to save the princess!” exclaimed Owain, standing up and making a show of pretending to protect Lucina.

          “It’s a game we play,” Morgan explained.

          “Sounds stupid to me.” Severa sniffed.

          “Yeah, why does the princess need protecting? A _real_ princess should be able to protect herself,” piped up Kjelle.

          “Well I think it sounds great!” said Cynthia, jumping to her feet, “I want to play!”

          “Oh so you want to join the Justice Cabal, do you? What’s your name?” asked Owain.

          “Cynthia,” she responded.

          “I’m sorry, Cynthia, you’ll have to do better than that if you’re to prove yourself one of the greatest warriors of all time.”

          “Oh just let her join,” Lucina snapped.

          “No, no, I can get in on my own,” Cynthia proclaimed, “I am Cynthia, daughter of the most revered Pegasus knight in all of the land! Hear my name and tremble, for I will destroy you in the name of justice!”

          “Freak,” muttered Severa, but Owain seemed to be ecstatic.

          “That was awesome, Cynthia! You’ve proved your worth! Now the Justice Cabal had three members, a sacred number! Lucina! We shall protect you at all costs!”

          “Um, you guys play, I think I’m going to find something for everyone else to do,” said Lucina.

          “What? There can be no Justice Cabal without a princess to guide us!” Owain complained, but one look from Lucina told him she’d already made up her mind.

          “Can I be princess?” a quiet girl who was sitting in the back of the courtyard asked hesitantly.

          “Sure!” Morgan said, flashing her a warm smile, “What’s your name?”

          “N-Noire.”

          “Well then, Princess Noire, we shall protect you!” Morgan exclaimed, bowing to her. Cynthia and Owain also bowed and Noire giggled. Then the four of them ran off to play together.

          Gaining confidence from the success of the newly found friendships and also a slight twinge of fear from losing Morgan, Lucina faced the remainder of the group. “So… Is there anything you guys would like to do?” she asked them. She was met with more blank, vacant stares. Lucina made sure to note that she needed to learn how to be personable and friendly like Morgan in the future.

          “I like your ears,” said a petite, younger girl whose long hair was styled in two braids. She was addressing Yarne, the taguel boy, he grabbed his ears self consciously.

          “Oh, you don’t have to be ashamed,” said the girl, “I’m a manakete, so I’m not normal either.” Yarne smiled a little at that.

          “A manakete,” one of the girls from earlier, Kjelle, said, “That’s pretty cool. What’s your name?”

          “Nah.”

          “Your name is Nah?”

          “Yes.”

          “That’s a weird name.”

          Nah frowned disapprovingly at Kjelle, and opened her mouth to say more, but one of the tall, quiet boys from the back interrupted.

          “Names, though it is often believed to be otherwise, actually carry no significant meaning. There is not logically any reason to name your hold any specific name aside from personal and emotional attachment. Did you know that?” Laurent rambled matter of factly. For a second everyone just stared at them in confusion, and then Brady ended the silence as he so eloquently stated: “That’s dumb.”

         This started a big quarrel that seemed to somehow involved Laurent, Brady, Nah, and Kjelle, with Yarne panicking in the middle of it all. Lucina tried to intervene several times, but the arguments only seemed to grow each time. Severa laughed at her. In her last sad, feeble attempt to get to know these people, Lucina turned to the only two who hadn’t spoken yet: Inigo and Gerome.

         “What do you normally do for fun?” she asked them, smiling and trying her best to seem friendly like Morgan and her mom always did. Gerome looked at her but didn’t actually say anything. Inigo, however, took the bait.

         “Um, I like to dance,” he said quietly.

         “You can’t dance, you’re a boy,” Severa cut in.

         “Sure he can,” Lucina argued, starting to get fed up with Severa’s stuck up attitude, “I’m sure he’s a much better dancer than you.”

         Inigo gaped at Lucina and then looked at the floor, his cheeks red. Severa just rolled her eyes again.

         “You know what I think would be really fun?” she said loudly, enticing everyone in the courtyard to stop what they were doing and look at her, “I think we should sneak into the conference room and find out what our parents are talking about.”

         “We’re not really allowed in the conference room,” said Morgan, “even Lucina’s never seen inside.”

         “Well, that just make it all the more fun,” Severa grinned.

         “They’re talking about the war, they’re going over strategy, it’s important. We can’t interrupt that.” Lucina insisted.

         “And do you actually know who they’re fighting in this war, or what it’s really about?”

         Lucina was shocked. She thought she had been keeping very close tabs on what her parents were up to, and what was going on in the halidom, but now she suddenly realized just how secretive her parents were being about the whole thing. She didn’t have an answer.

         “Right, well if you don’t mind, _Princess_ , I’m going to go find out.” Severa said, flipping her long, red hair over her shoulder and stalking out of the courtyard. Lucina watched helplessly as, one by one, curiosity won over all of the other kids and they followed Severa out the door. At last, she as alone in the courtyard with Morgan.

         “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. Morgan took her hand, silently showing support. Lucina squeezed it to let him know that she was fine.

         “They’re going to get in so much trouble,” said Morgan.

         “Not if I can help it,” said Lucina with a new determination. Though it went against everything she knew to disobey her father, she knew that they only way to gain these people’s trust was to help them, or take the blame for them. And, as much as she hated to admit it, she was curious too.

         Lucina and Morgan found the others huddled together just outside the conference room, whispering plans about how they would go about getting inside.

         “I say we all charge the door at the same time,” Owain suggested.

         “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard,” Brady retorted.

         “Justice doesn’t need to me smart!” Owain declared.

         “Yes it does,” said Laurent.

         “Any other ideas? Asked Nah.

         “Follow me,” said Lucina, startling all of them.

         “Oh, so Miss Princess isn’t a goody-two-shoes anymore, huh?” Severa quipped. Morgan saw Inigo open his mouth, probably to defend Lucina as she had done for him earlier, but the quiet boy was too shy to actually get the words out. Morgan was alto a little annoyed at Severa for making things so hard on Lucina, but he knew that they couldn’t all start arguing in front of the conference room or they’d be caught for sure.

         Lucina however, was totally poised. She simply lashed Severa a wide grin and with a wink, turned and walked off in the other direction. For one terrifying moment, she thought hey weren’t going to follow her, but then she heard Morgan giggle and whisper “Come on, guys, she’ll get us in,” and soon she could hear all of their footsteps as they raced after her. She waited until she got to the end of the hall and then turned around to look at them. They were all there, even Severa. Morgan smiled at her encouragingly.

         “Okay, so behind this plant here, there’s a small hole in the wall. We’ll have to go through it one at a time. Then, just outside there’s a trap door. I haven’t explored it completely, but it should lead to just below the conference room. If we’re quiet, we should be able to hear what they’re saying.”

         “You’re not even positive that this will work?” asked Laurent, ever the skeptic.

         “No, but you’re more than welcome to try ramming the door if you’d like.” Lucina shot back.

         “Well I like this plan,” said Kjelle, and some of the other nodded in agreement. Lucina smiled, moved the plant, went through the hole, and opened the trap door. With her leading the way and Morgan taking up the rear, they had a pretty good system going. The only hold up they had was that Owain kept trying to jump heroically through the hold and hit his leg on the wall several times until they convinced him to go through normally.

         It was actually all going according to plan. Lucina lead them silently until she heard voices about them, indicating that they were indeed underneath the conference room.

         “That won’t work,” she heard her mother, Robin, say in distress, “It leaves the whole left side too exposed.”

         All of the kids held their breath, listening to what was being said above. Many of them looked surprised by the frightened tone in Robin’s voice, Lucina knew that she was. Others however, such as Severa, Gerome, and Laurent, didn’t seem taken aback in the slightest.

         “Robin,” said Miriel, Laurent’s mother, “Given the statistics against us here, you cannot possibly hope to keep all of us safe.”

         “Of course I can!” screamed Robin, her voice cracking, “I know I can do it I just need to rework the strategy.” She sounded desperate. Lucina had never seen her mother cry before, but now, without a doubt she could hear her sobbing. Lucina looked over the heads of the other children until her eyes met Morgan’s. His face was pale and his mouth was hanging open. He wasn’t crying, but he was shocked so much that his eyes looked a little wet. Morgan believed in his mother more than anybody else. Lucina couldn’t stand here and star at her terrified little brother listening to their desperate mother cry any longer.

         “We have to get out of here,” she hissed. Her voice was so commanding that none of the others dared disobey. They all turned to make for the exit, but Cynthia turned too fast, tripping over her foot and taking Yarne, Noire, and Brady down with her.

         Cynthia opened her mouth to whisper apologies, but Severa slapped a hand over her mouth just in time. It wasn’t enough though. The sound of crash had alerted their parents and they all knew it. They scrambled to get up and dash back down the passageway, but Chrom was too quick. He opened the other trap door, the one in the conference room, and grabbed Lucina by the arm. “Stop,” he yelled at the other children, and they did so immediately. He dragged them all back into the conference room so that they could all stand there in misery as their parents cast them disapprovingly looks.

         Cynthia, Nah, Brady, and Inigo were all crying. Lucina couldn’t blame them, she wouldn't dare meet her father’s eyes. She once met her mother’s, but instantly regretted it and had to look away again. She knew that she was luckier than the other kids because she had Morgan by her side, but ask the oldest and as Chrom’s daughter, she knew that ultimately the blame for this little stunt was the fall on her alone.

         “Well, I think this meeting is over,” said Basilio.

         “Yes, I think so,” said Chrom. The others said their goodbyes and filed out the door with their miserable, guilty children in tow. Soon the family of four were the only ones left in the room.

         “We’re sor-“ Morgan started to plead, but Chrom raised a hand, silencing him.

         “Lucina,” he said, quietly but sternly, addressing her directly, “That mark that you bear in you eye holds a great responsibility. I know that this is a lot to put on your shoulders, but you will lead this halidom someday.”

         “We tried to stop them!” Morgan tried again.

         “Morgan,” Chrom said, raising his voice slightly. Morgan backed down again.

         “Lucina, Morgan, both of you look at me,” said Chrom, going back to his softer tone. As much as they didn’t want to, the two siblings did as they were told. He had an entire speech planned for them about how what they did was wrong, Lucina could see it in his eyes, but it never came. He just stared at his two children, and then slowly changed his mind.

         “We- our country- is in danger,” he said finally with a sigh. Robin, picking up Chrom’s every brain wave, seemed to immediately know and agree with what he was saying to them.

         “We think it’s time we told you what’s really going on,” she said.

         “And the four of them sat there, in that conference room for hours. Chrom and Robin sat with their backs leaning against a giant mural of the Great Hero King Marth. Lucina sat in Chrom’s lap, and Morgan in Robin’s. Chrom rested his hand on Morgan’s knee and Robin occasionally reached over to lovingly stroke a piece of Lucina’s hair. There was no punishment, only information about a war that they would soon have to realize was so much bigger than they could ever imagine. Though they were just children sitting with their parents in a comforting embrace, Lucina and Morgan grew up that day. More than anyone their age should have had to.


End file.
